The suspended QPS employee has been accused of selling a domestic violence victim’s information. Image source: Kgbo, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Queensland Police Service (QPS) employee is facing trial over allegations that she sold information about a domestic violence victim to a former partner.
The accused, Carol Kellaway, appeared before the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday 12 April.
Kellaway is not a sworn police officer and has since been suspended.
QPS released a statement on 11 April that confirms the staff member is a 46-year-old woman who worked for the Road Policing and Region Support Command.
“Between 2021 and 2023 the employee allegedly accessed information on the [QPS] system and released the information to a domestic violence (DV) respondent,” the statement said.
“The DV respondent has then allegedly used the information to stalk a DV aggrieved.
“It will be further alleged the DV respondent paid the subject member for the information.”
Court documents allege that Kellaway accessed the QPS system on two occasions, passing on the victim’s updated address to the estranged former partner.
Queensland’s state Minister for Police and Community Safety Mark Ryan has described the allegations as “abhorrent”.
Ryan also voiced his support for QPS’s “very robust approach” to the allegations by “not only having that person suspended but bringing charges against” them.
Queensland police have previously come under fire for their handling of domestic abuse issues within the force.
In 2016, QPS Senior Constable Neil Glen Punchard admitted to leaking the address of a domestic violence victim to her physically abusive husband — his childhood friend.
Punchard was first charged in 2018 and pleaded guilty to nine counts of computer hacking in 2019, receiving a two-month suspended prison sentence.
However, he was not dismissed from QPS and remained on the payroll until a month after his resignation in 2021.
The woman whose details Punchard released underwent a lengthy court battle for compensation from the police, which was ultimately denied.
The court has adjourned the matter until 22 April, and Kellaway remains on bail.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
